The Peruvian Congress Approves Early Elections for April 2024

On Tuesday, with 93 votes in favor, 30 votes against, and one abstention, the Peruvian Congress approved advancing the general elections to April 2024.

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This decision was justified by arguing the need for the terminations of the mandates of the executive and legislative branches to coincide at the end of July 2024.

The bill was introduced by the Constitutional Commission President Hernando Guerra, a far-right lawmaker linked to the party controlled by former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori.

The decision to advance the elections, however, must still be ratified by the next ordinary legislature, which begins on March 1, 2023.

By making such a decision, the Peruvian lawmakers left aside the proposal of President Dina Boluarte, who stated that general elections should be held in December 2023, a possibility that the electoral authorities ratified as technically feasible.

To justify the postponement of the elections until 2024, the right-wing lawmakers also argued that the lapse would allow time to carry out reforms to the electoral system and the political party system.

During the debate, leftist legislators demanded that the call for a constituent assembly be ratified. This proposal, however, was rejected by the conservative caucuses arguing that they want to provide "tranquility to the country."